


Guiding You Home

by CheerUpLovely



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, s06e19 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 17:16:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13908615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheerUpLovely/pseuds/CheerUpLovely
Summary: She’s so used to the hourly checks by the nursing staff that she barely notices when the door creaks open mid-afternoon. Having an hour between visits is giving her far too much time to consider less-than-savoury thoughts of what-if and but-perhaps and Felicity’s not fond of slipping into those habits when they’ve come too close to losing one another too many times.(based on rumours of filming time for 6x19)





	Guiding You Home

She’s so used to the hourly checks by the nursing staff that she barely notices when the door creaks open mid-afternoon. Having an hour between visits is giving her far too much time to consider less-than-savoury thoughts of what-if and but-perhaps and Felicity’s not fond of slipping into those habits when they’ve come too close to losing one another too many times. **  
**

When he was first admitted, the nursing staff were checking over Oliver every fifteen minutes, making notes and checking his readings. They were realists, it was their job to be so, and they were contenting themselves with knowing that Oliver’s coma was restful and not life-threatening, while Felicity sat at his side with the blind hope that he’d wake up and come back to her as long as she held a tight grip on his hand and didn’t take her eyes off of him. It’s been three days now since he slipped away from her, and she’s existing in a mixture of anger, loneliness and sheet upset.

She hasn’t been home in three days now, and it’s getting hard. It was hard in the beginning but now it’s hard in ways that make her understand why Oliver kept himself from her bedside two years ago when Damien’s attack left her hospital-ridden for over a month. There’s nothing she can do here except hold his hand and wait. She can’t do anything to improve his health or make him wake up faster. She knows if she were at home she could make herself useful despite a distracted mind, but she just cannot bear the idea of leaving his side.

She doesn’t react to William’s presence until his hand comes down on her shoulder. It almost makes her jolt in her seat and he mutters a soft ‘sorry’ when she brings her hand up over his, cementing them together because in the moments where Oliver feels so far away, the biggest part of him is so close to her.

He hands her a styrofoam cup from the nice coffee shop down the street, one that smells so beautifully of her favoured vanilla soy latte and not of the hospital machine gunk she’s been living off the last few days. She knows this is one of Raisa’s touches, and she does glance to see if she’s accompanied William up to the room today to see Oliver herself, but there’s no sign of her. Felicity understands. Oliver was like a son to her for so many years, it must be hard to see him in this state, but she’s grateful that Raisa is around to be there for William so she doesn’t have to rush between home and hospital when he finishes school.

“There’s no change,” she tells William when she sees him tug his lower lip between his teeth. His eyes flicker down away from his father’s still form in disappointment, and she squeezes his hand again while he moves around to sit in the empty seat beside her.

“Raisa said sometimes no news is good news,” he says, and she can’t help but agree with that. While Oliver is comatose, he is in all sense of the word; safe. He has no internal bleeding, no damage to his brain or spinal cord, not even a broken bone. The doctors explained it to them that he’s just resting, taking time out, and who can blame him? To say the last six months have been a rollercoaster isn’t enough. The last six months have been a runaway fairground cart where people are suspended upside down for hours on a collapsing structure.

Still, her stepson is comforting her and that’s not the way this should be happening. In Oliver’s...absence, she’s essentially the parent in charge, and it throws the role of step-parent into sharp clarity for her yet again. She isn’t just there to keep an eye on him, she isn’t there to let him slide under the rules all the time; when it comes down to the important things, they are a family. She is a parent, step or otherwise.

So she turns slightly away from Oliver for the first time in hours and focuses on William. Her free hand clutches around his as she asks him with a deep breath, “how was school?”

He looks at her for a moment as if that’s the least important thing they can talk about in that moment but she presses on. “Will, we need to keep going. It’s important. Didn’t you have a math test today?”

He shrugs. “They let me skip it.” Felicity’s about to question why when he carries on. “Raisa called and told them about dad. My teacher said I could wait until things are more settled and make up the test in a few weeks.”

“Okay,” she nods, squeezing his hand. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t around to help you study or-“

“Dad’s more important.”

He smiles just a fraction as he says it, looking towards his father’s prone form and Felicity wonders if this ever hits home for him; just how far they’ve come. Even just a few short months ago they weren’t even using the ‘D’ word and now father and son are as close as they can be. Everything’s moved so fast, even William’s understanding of his night job.

“He’s going to be okay,” she assures him, even if it’s because she needs to believe that herself. “He’s gotten through much worse than this.”

“Do you think that’s why he hasn’t woken up yet?” He asks her. “That it’s just too much?”

She shakes her head, but the thought has crossed her mind. What if this is just the tip of the iceberg? What if this is the small hurdle that’s made his body realise it’s experienced too much? “A few years ago I could have believed that,” she tells him quietly. “But he has so much more to live for now, there’s not a force in the universe that could stop him coming back to us. Besides,” she forces a smile to her lips. “Have you ever seen your Dad actually relax? It’s impossible to get him to take a break. If anything, this is the universe telling him to start taking it easy. He’s not a young man anymore.”

At that, William does smile a little, but it’s bittersweet. As independent as he’d like to have them believe he is, she knows that right now all he wants is his father to wake up. It’s almost been a year since he lost Samantha, and to have almost lost Oliver so soon after isn’t something he’s handling all that well.

She should be at home with him, where Oliver would want her to be.

But she cannot leave him.

“Are you coming home tonight?” he asks her an hour later when Raisa steps in to take him home for dinner.

She shakes her head as she stands up to hug him. He’s taller than her now unless she’s wearing heels, but he still feels so small in her arms. “Not tonight. Raisa’s going to stay with you again but you can-“

“Call you if I need you, I know,” William finishes, and she knows there’s disappointment there but she can’t do it. She can’t leave him, not until she knows for certain that things are okay.

“Tomorrow, maybe, if there’s change,” she tells him hopefully. “I just don’t want him to wake up alone.”

He nods, and she knows he understands that. But she also knows that he wants her at home where it feels empty without them both, so she gives him a smile she hopes assured him that she’s going to try and stick to that ‘tomorrow’ offer.

“Go eat,” she tells him, “and have some ice cream while you’re gaming but don’t go mad with it.”

He looks to his father once more, before he tells her goodnight only under the promise that she’ll call him if there’s any change at all, and then it’s just her and Oliver again.

Raisa’s left her a bag of dinner that certainly hasn’t come from Big Belly, along with a flask of coffee and a large bottle of water. Hidden beneath are some more toiletries since she’s not yet been home to shower, and she’s glad for Raisa’s wisdom because she really has managed pretty well with a pack of wipes and dry shampoo.

She still has some of her coffee left that William bought her, which is still better than hospital coffee even when it’s lukewarm, and she takes herself back to Oliver’s side, her free hand linking with his. The wedding ring on his finger is a stark contrast against the white sheets, her eyes drawn to it the same way she is every time the gold catches the light. She thought they’d have better luck once they were married but so far it seems the opposite, and she’s only glad that they took this step when they did so that at least they aren’t pushing through these problems alone.

Even when he’s unconscious, she doesn’t feel alone. The constant ‘beep’ of the heart monitor is an assurance that his heart is beating, and she knows that he’s alive. As long as he’s alive, there isn’t anything that can stop him from getting back to her, and she knows that.

She knows he’ll keep fighting to get to her, so she’ll sit by his side and be his anchor.

 _MESSAGE RECEIVED: 02.03am_  
[Felicity]  
I hope you’re asleep but you’ll get this in the morning. Your dads okay. He woke up but he’s sleeping again now, but he’s been talking and he’s not in any pain. Hopefully we can bring him home in a few days x  
If you’re not asleep, put the ice cream away and go to bed.  
Xxxx


End file.
